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FOR THE RECORD; Jabbing and Sparring In a Class, for Credit

FREUDIAN analysis is one way to put your problems in perspective and learn to cope with life's complexities. Having a 75-year-old man assisted by his 73-year-old friend teach you how to knock someone's block off is another. This second and perhaps lesser-known method of coping is what keeps drawing students to a shopworn room where the air is mildly stale, here in the basement of Westchester Community College's gymnasium.

On the walls of the room are photos of the head teacher, Stephen B. Acunto, who is well known in the boxing world, engaged in ring demonstrations with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano.

Mr. Acunto has been teaching boxing for more than half a century and at the college here for two decades. He offers both a continuing education course and a rarity: a one-credit course on boxing.

''A community college is supposed to offer what the community wants and needs,'' said Joseph N. Hankin, the college's president. ''In this case, there wasn't a great need for it until Steve showed up. We decided to take a chance on it, even though it can be a violent sport, and it's been a very popular offering.''

The continuing education course, 20 classes over 10 weeks for $158, started Monday and no sooner had class begun than Mr. Acunto was holding out a bare hand as Ken von Glahn, 19, a more advanced student, jabbed at it fiercely. ''He gets the science of the sport, that it's more than a slugfest,'' said Mr. Acunto, before slapping Mr. von Glahn playfully on the head.

Mr. Acunto, spurring boxers on in a gravelly voice, puts an observer in mind of the classic trainer in the classic boxing movie. Across the room, his friend and assistant volunteer teacher, Bob Wall, a sinewy 73, was lining beginners up and bouncing among them, posing each in the proper boxing stance.

The class starts with boxing basics and ends with sparring in the ring, which takes up a large portion of the room. Because some students have more experience, levels of competency run the gamut. The class attracts a cross section of ages and professions, mostly men but also some women.

''For a lot, boxing is something they've wanted to do their whole lives,'' Mr. Wall said. ''They've wanted to get into the ring and spar, have that boxing experience.''

Mr. Acunto added that there was one sector of the population they weren't yet reaching, but should. ''We need to indoctrinate senior citizens that it's never too late to start boxing, if it's carefully monitored,'' he said, but one doesn't get the sense that bridge and bocce have too much to fear. The only older people in the room were the two in charge.

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In a far corner of the room, Dr. Charles Coletti, schools superintendent in Port Chester, was shadow boxing.

''I am 59,'' Dr. Coletti said, ''and I never want to fight for real. But right above this was buying the Harley. My wife said, 'Go to boxing, we'll talk about the Harley later.'''

Rocio Castaneda, 32, lives in Tarrytown and said she came from a traditionally Hispanic family, where girls were thought of as too fragile to box. She wanted to, though, and talked to her mother about changing the culture. How did her mother respond? ''She still didn't like the idea,'' said Ms. Castaneda, on the speed bag.

For a text, Mr. Acunto gives the class a boxing guide he wrote, called ''Champions Boxing Guide,'' which comes complete with ''Knock Out Tips'' and a glossary that features the translation for dukes: ''the fists.''

The sport of boxing, with such a storied and sordid history, is a throwback to another age, as is Mr. Acunto's teaching style. The clipped commands to hit off the back foot and the playful slaps in the head aren't seen in too many schools these days. Still, the students, many of whom say they are interested in boxing for a very modern motive, self-improvement, say it will aid their self-esteem and help them carry themselves with confidence; a career choice it is not.

Amy Callan, bobbing and weaving around the ring, said that the class was actually her mother's idea. She has always been aggressive, she said, but had tired of health club offerings, like cardio-kick-boxing.

Ms. Callan, 22, an insurance adjuster, who said she had a difficult time finding her rhythm on the speed bag, said that her long-term ambitions were measured.

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A version of this article appears in print on September 28, 2003, on Page WC14 of the National edition with the headline: FOR THE RECORD; Jabbing and Sparring In a Class, for Credit. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe